Poll of the Week: Full Body Scanners and Pat-Downs

[SarahS]

The TSA has recently begun introducing new full body scanners and enhanced pat-downs in airports across America. Read about the new security procedures below and then tell us what you think of them!

Related Story
From Pat-Downs to Full Body Scanners: The TSA Firestorm

[jocap]

Hm....I've had the full pat down treatment, and it didn't worry me- it was very skilled, and by the same sex....I read in a weekend paper that some pilots are worried about frequent scans, plus no-one seems to know about pregnancy or children.....I thought it was optional at Manchester, but I suppose the trial time is over now. No, it doesn't worry me in the slightest....we were in Spain when Libya was bombed, and in Orlando, flying back to Manchester, when Manchester was bombed, so we're used to heavy security.
Jo.

[xrayaz]

I believe that TSA does what is needed to helo- ensure safety. I have yet to hear a good option to the scanners or body pat-downs (when the options seem to be a painful death from falling out of the sky on fire).
Michael in Arizona

[c&dtravel2010]

I believe that TSA does what is needed to helo- ensure safety. I have yet to hear a good option to the scanners or body pat-downs (when the options seem to be a painful death from falling out of the sky on fire).
Michael in Arizona

Amen to you and jocap, have no idea of how many flights, both domestic & int'l we have flown on since 1958, both business and vacation, but have NO PROBLEM with security. You are right Michael it sure beats falling from 30,000 ft. Grow up people it is a new world
c&d

[LSKahn]

None of this is very effective. If you watched Keith Olberman last night, he had on a guy from Israeli airport security. They interview everyone standing in line for check in and select those for further interviews. That works. When is the last time there was a problem on an Israeli plane? The issue for Americans is that such a system would be even more expensive than the full body scans, etc., because American airports have a heck of a lot more passengers than in Israel. We will get the Israeli system (totally junking the boondogle body scanners that are a boon to the security industry) when some female home grown terrists but explosives in her tampax and detonates it after pulling it out in the plane restroom.

The terrorists are probably laughing at this stuff. What the public has to realize is that all of this alleged security is cosmetic. It is designed to make people feel more secure while actually not increasing security at all.

[Deb39RDj11]

It seems every day that airlines are adding on fees and cutting customer services, and the TSA is making security checks ever more invasive. I get that the terrorism threat is a reality we must live with, but air travel is becoming so unpleasant, I'm thinking of just staying home and reading a good travel book. Re scanners in particular, the latest news on cancer and X-rays is not helping:
http://healthland.time.com/2010/10/2...ously-thought/
I feel for the flight crews and frequent business travelers who have to transit security multiple times daily or weekly.

[RichardNika]

An Israeli security official once said "we don't look for weapons - we look for terrorists." El Al Israel Airlines has not been hijacked since the 1960s. They evaluate every aspect of every passenger. Do they profile? You bet they do! Being a Bill of Rights person, I've been active in the ACLU for many years, but that doesn't mean I agree with all their positions, and there's nothing I DISAGREE with them on more than the issue of profiling! Have you ever seen a photo of Richard Reid, the shoe bomber? Good Lord, if I saw him walking down my STREET, I'd call the police! And the airport security man who checked in Mohammed Atta said he looked like the stereotype of a terrorist - but he had no legal grounds to stop him.

The current body scanners MIGHT have caught the underwear bomber, but they're far from foolproof. How many times have you seen a movie where someone goes to prison and has to submit to a body cavity search? There have been countless lawsuits over people arrested for even minor offenses who have had to submit to this, not to mention persons passing through U.S. Customs checkpoints.

flyersrights.org and its founder, Kate Hanni, whom I had the privilege of meeting a few weeks ago, are battling the new system. I personally don't care if some anonymous guy SEES my "junk," but I'll be damned if I want him touching it! But there are plenty of people out there who would feel violated and humiliated by either procedure. The TSA chief claims they're working on a new system that would show only "stick figures" and use "algorithms" to find dangerous materials. Maybe we should fire all the top TSA people and put El Al's people in their place!

[Teacher Lady]

I, too, am concerned about the radiation in body scanners. HOWEVER...I was subjected to a "random" invasive pat-down during a trip to New Orleans in June, that was anything but professional. Now, I'm a senior citizen, a "wild child" in my day (FYI--it's still my day!). That said...I found the pat-down to be embarrassing (I didn't like being entertainment for the masses, as they remove their shoes and belts), intrusive to the point where: on the street, the screener would have been arrested for molestation--give her a TSA badge, though, and she gets a paycheck for the doing the same gropy-feely thing. I have a trip scheduled to Las Vegas next month, and I'm not looking forward to it; train and bus are logistically and financially impractical. There's GOT to be a better way! The Israeli method of security screening has been nixed as a security model because it "violates our civil rights"...but I never felt this violated civilly (or any other way) on a trip to or from that country.

[Marco Polo]

I live in the UK, and fly in and out of the country several times a year. Although it is a country as much involved as the US in the international scene, and had been a target of numerous terrorist attacks in recent times, security checks at British airports are much less invasive and paranoid than the ones I had to put up in American airports. Nobody will ask you to take your shoes off unless you are wearing boots or heavy footwear, I saw no body scanners so far, and the only (very light) pat down I had to endure was because I forgot a pen in my pocket when I walked through the metal detector.
And nobody here dares to put up in a departure lobby a sign saying: "No jokes beyond this point"...
Do you think that the British don't take air travel security as seriously as the US? Think again...

[xrayaz]

I live in the UK, and fly in and out of the country several times a year. Although it is a country as much involved as the US in the international scene, and had been a target of numerous terrorist attacks in recent times, security checks at British airports are much less invasive and paranoid than the ones I had to put up in American airports. Nobody will ask you to take your shoes off unless you are wearing boots or heavy footwear, I saw no body scanners so far, and the only (very light) pat down I had to endure was because I forgot a pen in my pocket when I walked through the metal detector.
And nobody here dares to put up in a departure lobby a sign saying: "No jokes beyond this point"...
Do you think that the British don't take air travel security as seriously as the US? Think again...

I think you have a more mature and accountable attitude in the UK (and most other countries). If an American plane was to blow-up the first 9,000 relatives would be contacted by lawyers to sue because the airline did not to all the screening it should have. It is kind of like the ads I see on TV that ask if anything, ever has gone wrong, YOU are entitled to compensation.

[jocap]

None of this is very effective. If you watched Keith Olberman last night, he had on a guy from Israeli airport security. They interview everyone standing in line for check in and select those for further interviews. That works. When is the last time there was a problem on an Israeli plane? The issue for Americans is that such a system would be even more expensive than the full body scans, etc., because American airports have a heck of a lot more passengers than in Israel. We will get the Israeli system (totally junking the boondogle body scanners that are a boon to the security industry) when some female home grown terrists but explosives in her tampax and detonates it after pulling it out in the plane restroom.

The terrorists are probably laughing at this stuff. What the public has to realize is that all of this alleged security is cosmetic. It is designed to make people feel more secure while actually not increasing security at all.

The last time I flew to the USA- Manchester to Fort Lauderdale, 2006, we were all profiled in the queue before check in. We were interviewed by security with computers in their hands. On reaching the check-in desk, one in 4 had to open their luggage before it went into the hatch. This was for a charter flight arranged by Princess Cruises, so only people who'd booked and paid the company via a TA were on this flight.
Jo.

[JackieP317]

body scanners are one thing, but the full body pat downs are another thing ENTIRELY! i shouldn't be automatically assumed to be a criminal (and treated as one) just because i want to visit my family in an another state and the only reasonable way to get there is to fly! the full body pat down procedure is extremely humiliating, embarrassing and is way too difficult to police and determine whether a TSA agent crosses the line. just because a TSA employee is performing said duty in a public place, same sex or not, doesn't mean they will do their jobs by the book or with any professionalism. the thought of someone PUBLICLY touching me in my genital area makes we want to vomit! this is practically legalized sexual assault, and in fact, there are already several individuals who have reported being sexually assaulted through this new pat down procedure AND higher ups in the TSA corroborated their stories. i'd rather be forced to take a lie detector test than have a COMPLETE stranger touch me in places they shouldn't be in the name of safety! TSA has gone way too far, and I really hope that if people out there have an experience that makes them uncomfortable or feel they have been violated in any way, they report it immediately (and try to make a mental note of the person's badge # or name if you can, or at least which security checkpoint you went through)!

[soliteyah]

I am not really that bothered by the scanners, assuming they don't give me cancer. That's a big if, I realize, but I hadn't realized till I started reading about all this that you get so much radiation from just FLYING. So it seems like if you're going to freak out about the scanners, you should probably freak out about the flights themselves too...

The pat-downs, though, are another matter. They do not look fun at all, not only for passengers but also for the poor TSA agents who have to essentially feel people up all day (while being accused of molestation and being perverts and whatever else).

[jocap]

There was a famous US singer (so famous I can't remember who she is), who took a swing at her body searcher, and was arrested and charged at Heathrow.....
Jo.

[Cliffk]

There are too many ignorant people in this world, as evidenced by 37% saying they will not fly again rather than going through a scanner.


People, these scanners have been in existence for four years! And pat-downs have been used since 9/11. The ONLY difference today is that the new scanners show an outline of your body to someone in another room totally unaware of who you are. Do the scan and you don’t have to worry about a pat-down.


The total ignorance in this country is mind boggling. Many people now think they will be patted down no matter what. All this from rumor mongering through emails and internet.



This reminds me of all the people who voted for one politician or another based on deceitful advertising. Our communities are not thinking rationally, but just following the crowds.



GET SMART PEOPLE. These are just scanners and you’ve probably gone through them many times in the past few years.

[RichardNika]

The full body PATDOWNS are an outrage, and I have been reading repeatedly about cancer survivors and prosthesis wearers who have been outrageously humiliated by this sort of thing. As for people being selected RANDOMLY for "special treatment," this is idiotic. It would and probably often does result in toddlers and frail elderly being picked out while young men - such as the "underwear bomber" - are waved through.

I find it ironic that, on this issue, I am on the side of the right-wing commentators, with whom I almost never agree on anything, and they are on the same side as one of their favorite punching bags, the ACLU, in which I have long been active. If I was Catholic, I would go to confession after finding I agree with Ann Coulter on something, but, being Jewish, I'll have to wait for Yom Kippur! Meanwhile, Ed Schultz of MSNBC, with whom I agree most if by no means all of the time, made an ass of himself by condemning the Israeli methods of profiling and saying they don't work!

[rapedinphx]

Look at the results, people! 69% hate both the scanners and the pat-downs! This is the exact opposite of what the mainstream media is telling us. Could they be lying to us? Funny, that is what George Orwell wrote about in 1984! Wake up, everyone. Big Brother is lying to us through our telescreens.

[rapedinphx]

And those of you who are posting positive things about the TSA are probably being paid by the neo-conservatives to post that hogwash. Get a real job!

[jocap]

Gosh, there's an interesting thought!
Which bit is the hogwash????
And who, please, is a neo-conservative?
I cannot see what the fuss is about....as a UK citizen, I received a full body search in Spain because the Americans were bombing Libya.
I accepted- no choice, really- because Spain had allowed American planes to stop in Spain, therefore that country could well have been in dire trouble.

It was no trouble, nor did it distress me or my companions.
Nothing to do with your TSA!
Jo.

[indyrocks]

In the 22 years since I had a morphine pump implanted, I've had every type of search the TSA uses (except a strip search). As long as the agent is courteous and respectful, it doesn't both me one bit. And so far, every one of them has been just fine.

[melanieB]

A TN female was detained when Transportation Security Administration workers tried to pat down her child Saturday. Her reaction led to her arrest. The female was arrested for disorderly conduct after she grew to be belligerent. This incident occurred after the TSA changed its procedure concerning the pat down of kids recently. Woman arrested for scene when TSA attempt to pat down her daughter. I understand that TSA pat down is for security purposes but it just to be an exaggeration. Thus, such reactions happened.

[indyrocks]

If terrorists are willing to implant explosives within a person's body, as widely reported within the last few days, what makes you think they wouldn't stoop to using children and/or senior citizens, or the toys and equipment they carry, to hide their bombs? Despite their crazed propaganda, these are not religious zealots. At least not the kind of religion that sane people understand. They are madmen, but they are patient and opportunistic madmen. And they are counting on just the type of hysterical reaction that we are seeing.

If you don't want your child patted down, don't fly. Drive, take a bus, take a train, or stay home. Don't go on a cruise, because they also have metal detectors at the gangways, although their searches aren't nearly as complete as the TSA's. Better still, use it as a teaching moment. I say that as a teacher with 35 years in the classroom. It's a safety measure, not an attack on your children. A parent who reacts with hysteria during a search of their child is just teaching that child to fear the wrong people. It's become quite the fashion to attack them recently, but remember that the TSA is not the enemy. For the most part, TSA agents are conscientious people who are trying to do the job they are (minimally) paid to do.